There was a lot of buzz surrounding Venom, as trailers showed a promising interpretation of the Marvel comic book character. After a disappointing adaptation in 2007’s Spider-Man 3, fans were filled with hope that Tom Hardy’s portrayal would bring justice to the villain. However, the movie feels as if watching two separate movies, one that is incredibly boring and one that is pretty enjoyable.

Venom, follows Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) a journalist that looks to expose those who are corrupt and immoral. He investigates Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), a CEO that is conducting human trails of alien lifeforms. Through his investigation he becomes bound to one of these alien lifeforms, named Venom, and then must try to function with alien having partial control over him.

The first third of this movie is purely boring exposition. The majority of that time is spent explaining the alien lifeforms is the most uninteresting way possible and the other part follows Eddie’s failing relationship. The first 45 minutes are pretty unbearable and even the supposed action scenes are rather lackluster. 

If you are able to make it through that first third you are reward with a fairly enjoyable movie. The highlight of Venom is without a doubt the interactions between Eddie and Venom. The back and forth between these two is hilarious and will leave you in stitches.

The movie as a whole is very humorous, however it is unclear at times whether or not this humor is intentional. Sometimes it felt like the humor was simply a result of the absolute absurdity of some of the scenes and dialog.

However, the action remains a little underwhelming with the big fight scening feeling rather anticlimactic. Also the entire pacing of the movie felt off. The first third of the movie felt like it dragged on for hours while the rest of it felt a little rushed.

While Venom stumbles a lot in the beginning, it’s able to stick the landing with an entertaining second half and is worth the watch, if you can sit through the dull start. 

Rating: B-